Government is planning to build nearly 200 low-cost airports in the next 20 years

This additional aviation infrastructure is likely to be developed on the private-public partnership (PPP) model

Tuesday 09-Aug-2011 | Mumbai

With smaller cities set to lead the air traffic growth in the country, the government is planning to build nearly 200 low-cost airports in the next 20 years to meet the demand for air travel. As per a report in FE by Sunny verma & Nirbhay Kumar, this additional aviation infrastructure is likely to be developed on the private-public partnership (PPP) model, throwing business opportunities for developers like GMR, GVK, L&T and Reliance-ADAG.

“The first phase of growth in the aviation sector has been led by low-cost airlines. The next phase would be driven by low-cost airports. The country should have 300 operational airports by the end of 2030,” a senior aviation ministry official said. Each low-cost airport, which would have only basic facilities like runway, terminal building and air navigation infrastructure is expected to cost R80-125 crore. As per an estimate bigger airports worldwide handle 60% of the total air traffic and the remaining is managed by low-cost smaller airports.